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There they were, face to face, mano a mano, Judges versus Jumbos, the battle of two division three schools with unusual mascot choices (and names, what the heck is a Jumbo?). It was at Red Auerbach Arena that the womens volleyball team fought hard, but it was not enough, as the Judges lost their fifth game in a row 3-0 (30-24, 30-28, 30-24).

The first match was a close affair with neither team being ahead by more than two but after a 20-20 tie, Tufts went on a 6-1 run and held off a late Brandeis rally to win the first match. The second match was just as close;

Brandeis jumped out to an early lead, but Tufts took the lead back. Brandeis came within one point of forcing overtime;

however, the second match ended in disappointment when the Judges were unable to return the set-up shot by Lorraine Wingenbach 09. The wheels came off in the third game, in which Tufts jumped to a 12-3 lead and never looked back, winning in moderately easy fashion.

Wingenbach led on offense and defense with 18 kills and 23 digs. Jenny Sandler 08 had 7 kills and 14 digs while contributing some key serves in game two, while Violette Ruggiero 09 offered up 29 assists and 12 digs.

For Tufts it was very balanced with Captain April Gerry 06 setting the bar with 12 kills. The telling stat about the game though was that four Jumbos had double-digit digs. Another telling stat: Tufts had 10 errors compared to Brandeiss 28.

This loss follows a disappointing weekend tournament for the Judges, as they lost to Carnegie-Mellon (27-30, 30-27, 30-12, 30-14), Rochester (25-30, 30-27, 30-23, 30-22), Chicago (30-25, 25-30, 30-19, 30-23), and Emory (30-18, 30-10, 30-20). All of this puts Brandeiss record at 10-15, 1-7 in conference play. Coach Michelle Kim was not happy about their weekend performance.

Its easier said than done but in hindsight, I think its a match [Rochester] that we can take. I think Carnegie, on our best day, we can beat. We can compete with Chicago on our best day, I think we can beat. Tough lossescant sugarcoat that one.

With the season winding down, Coach Kim remains optimistic heading into the Hall-of-Fame tournament at Amherst.

I think were hungry to win. We have, in distance, the longest losing streak of the season, so were definitely hungry to win a match and play well and were all looking forward to that happening.

One can certainly hope so.